The Event

The splendour of the Italian Renaissance will boss the show on 5th and 6th September, when the San Leo fortress will host the “TORNEO IN ARMATURA” event to celebrate the wedding between Federico da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza.

Come and see which valiant family will win the tournament and will be awarded the prize and their lord’s respect. Noble families such as Malatesta from Rimini, Ordelaffi from Forlì, Sforza from Milan and Colleoni from Bergamo will be represented by their men-at-arms, who, rigged out in their best armour, will defy each other on the two days hosting the event.

Take a look at the rooms where the Tournament comes from, listen to the music offered by the lord of the castle and have fun with the jester. It will be a living show which will bring San Leo to the centre of the Italian Renaissance.

The Tournament

In the second half of the fifteenth century the tournament went from being an expression of the art of chivalry and courage to being the representation and assertion of one’s social status.
Tournaments took place on the occasion of particular celebrations and were often sponsored by the great lords of the time to celebrate a wedding or an alliance (the two things often coincided).

The participants were the young standard-bearers of the city’s most important families and, in many cases, also the men-at-arms of the various lineages of leaders who represented their lord.
TOURNAMENTS usually took place on horseback (and were officially called JOUSTS), but they could also take place among MEN-AT-ARMS on foot.

Small battles and fights among men-at-arms, often after celebrations, are given proof of.
Young descendants of the most powerful families and men-at-arms are some of the TOURNAMENT’s protagonists; participants look for social success by wearing special clothes or showing their warlike abilities.
Some TOURNAMENT chronicles describe the men-at-arms (who are rarely called KNIGHTS) in detail, covering many pages, while the real warlike event is often described in as little as one or two pages; this shows how important the ritual part was at the time and how considered were the participants’ clothes and sets, which were often luxurious and exaggerated, and which aimed at drawing people’s attention and highlighting the richness and power of a party over the other.

With the aim of properly re-enacting the TOURNAMENT, we have decided to merge these two souls, the warlike soul and the ritual one, so as to provide participants with such a great event in full.
This is the reason why we have decided to run the event over two weekends.

The first one, which goes under the name of L'ARTE DEL TORNEARE (THE ART OF TOURNAMENT), will re-enact the ritual part preceding the real tournament and will introduce the artistic part of the event, also thanks to activities which will allow visitors to directly interact with history and art.

The following year, the real tournament will take place, and it will follow a ritual based on historical documents.
Over the weekend, the men-at-arms will fight for victory.